| Thank God for Mental Illness | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 25, 1996 | |||
| Recorded | July 11, 1996 | |||
| Studio | Our House (San Francisco) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 63:35 | |||
| Label | Bomp! | |||
| Producer | Anton Newcombe | |||
| The Brian Jonestown Massacre chronology | ||||
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Thank God for Mental Illness is the fifth studio album by American psychedelic rock band The Brian Jonestown Massacre. After releasing Take It from the Man! and Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request in mid-1996, both of which display influences from 1960s psychedelic music, departing from the band's earlier shoegaze sound, the band recorded Thank God for Mental Illness through "tangible custom lo-fi stereo" in their San Francisco home studio on July 11, 1996, with the budget of $17.36.
The album shows another musical palette for the group, taking influence from country blues and psychedelic folk music, with one review calling it "an incredibly strange acoustic venture." The album is divided into two parts; the first part features mostly acoustic lo-fi songs of a short length, whilst the other half is a series of songs and pieces merged into one track named "Sound of Confusion", that features both regular songs and more abstract sound collages.
Released on October 25, 1996, by record label Bomp!, it was the third and final full-length album released by the band in that year. The album title was lead singer Anton Newcombe's personal jab at insults directed towards him. The album was critically acclaimed and was hailed for, among numerous points, its lo-fi quality and influences. Several critics drew out comparisons to Bob Dylan. The album has since been hailed as one of the band's greatest, and Newcombe's own record label A Records re-released the album on CD in 2007 and on LP in 2016, the latter marking the first time it was issued on LP.